Carded

I love gift cards. They're so small and fit all uniform in my wallet, which satisfies my OCD. I saw this article and it makes perfect sense - I mean, when you don't know what to get someone last minute, I can see how a gift card would be your best bet. (On a side note, I don't see a gift card as a cop-out. Starbucks? Perfect! And, if you don't know what size/shape/color to get, you know the person can get what you want to get them and they're happy too.)

Shortly thereafter I saw this next article and I was completely horrified. Now, gift cards were really getting popular when I was in college and taking a battery of accounting and financial reporting courses, so of course one of my professors added as a side note how to account for and report gift card revenue. It made perfect sense and seemed fair. Then I heard that they expire, and even still, that seemed fair. Or at least expiration dates would reduce the havoc that gift cards could wreak on financial statements. But this is basically a 60% gift card tax on companies. It's ridiculous, and unfair. I can see how this might be popular with constituents, because people just love taking money from those big nasty corporations.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am not a woman of strong opinions, but this really ticks me off.

Sigh. I guess I'll go pick up my last-minute gift (cards).